Damp problem with survey

[MintSquid]

Hi all,

Selling our property and we have had our buyer's surveyor around today. Their bank had already sent around a surveyor who did a brief report- which was all fine. The surveyor today did a level 2 survey that was more in-depth. However, they found evidence of damp in the living room and hallway with their moisture detector- which was a huge shock. At many points in these rooms, they found scores of 999+. We saw this with our own eyes. They said that this is the max damp score it can be.

The bank surveyor who had been here last month did a damp survey as well with the same kind of machine (obviously I don't know what machine that was used) and found nothing. I was with them and saw that they found no signs of damp in the same areas just a month previous. Very strange.

On top of that, there are no signs of damp as far as we can see. In terms of feeling the walls or visible signs or smells. We also did our own survey of this property not even three years ago and that survey said that "there are no significant signs of damp in this property".

Can such a problem really develop in a just a couple of years? And why did this damp survey conflict with the previous damp survey carried out by the bank? I realise that this one is more in-depth but the machine should be similar surely??

Very stressful! If anyone can share any insights, that would be greatly appreciated. If that is indeed showing as damp on the survey report, what would be next steps? Thanks all!!!

The only way as i see it is their surveyor will report damp. You have no access to this report so don't really have any grounds to contest it.

if it was me, i would be calling a local damp contractor our for a check. If they dont find damp, or do with a cause it might be worth instructing an official report to go with their survey, or any issues that might come up in future ie if the sale falls through, you dont want to EA disclosing a damp issue if there isn’t one.

we recently bought a house, found damp and had a few people come and quote for repairs etc. all had those machines and the initial quick look and wall scan was free.

Thanks for that, yes I suppose that we can't contest the surveyor report- it just seems very odd that there is suddenly this issue!

Looking into a damp contractor to have a look at it. Good point on requesting an official report, sounds like a sound idea.

In your experience, were your repairs to address the damp issue costly? Concerned at how big an expense this could be. It sounds like in your case, you paid for the repairs as the buyers?

Yes to getting your own damp proofer round for quote. I wonder if the second machine was broken.

@MintSquid we had some crap built up in the cavity wall creating a bridge. Got both sides of a bay window sorted including re plastering, and another room with a fair stretch of wall affect fixed the same and it was around £800 (we had quotes from £500-2000 to fix!)

id would definitely question the performance of the machine. Strange to get “the highest level possible” without any signs of actual damp?

you could clearly see and feel ours, the text of the wall felt off.

Don't get a specialist damp proofing contractor round, especially not one offering a free survey. They'll likely recommend a chemical damp proofing course whether it's needed or not.

It sounds to me as though the damp meter was faulty or being used incorrectly.

Otherwise, what had the weather been like recently? We've had a lot of heavy rain followed by several inches of snow that stayed for several days. Have you checked your roof, guttering, etc?

I would pop to Band Q and buy a damp meter and do some tests myself before I’d spend loads of money on a survey
The meters aren’t expensive

Are these walls external, in which case things can progress quickly in terms of damp and can be down to something as simple as plants, bins etc blocking airflow…..so just move them out of the way. Or it could be down to Brocken down pipes, etc …..all easy to fix
If they are internal walls I’d say it’s more unusual

Your own damp meter will ascertain exact position of issue, if there is one. If there is look outside to see what could be causing the problem.

Ok, thanks for the info. It is very odd. We have checked around skirting boards, internal and external walls and can't see any typical signs of damp. We will have to see what the buyers want to do . I can't imagine it would be major issue given that we don't have any visible signs, etc.

At that level the walls would be wet to the touch and obvious signs of damp. Sounds like a faulty meter. Honestly sounds like an incompetent surveyor - if I got “off the charts” readings the first thing I would do is check my instruments. Also when was the survey done re weather? If it was after gales and driving rain it is possible the wind could have driven some water in somewhere. Depends on the orientation of the wall relative to the wind direction.